"The man behind us is gaining."
"The man behind us is hosting an Archetype."
Dr Ariel Heffernan is a psychologist in a world with a seething underground of power always just around the next corner. The Others, those persons of stories and fables, cultures and myths, are for the most part hidden behind the narrow boundaries of reality. Among those powers are the Archetypes: icons of distilled belief, the lens through which ordinary people can exert power on others. Archetypes aren't strictly able to manifest on their own.
Except that Justice has, and the man it's pursuing has walked right into Ari's life. And Justice, manifested with vengeance in mind, doesn't tend to stop when people get in its way.
It's a good thing Ari is also a mind-reader. The only problem is, when Ari reads minds it can lead to a total loss of identity ... and one Archetype loose in a city is bad enough.